[Scan-DC] Analog/Digital (cellphones/radios)

[John Bacon]

Well I would like to get in on this. DIGITAL is kind of useless it is only
saving bandwidth.

Not the problem you have with digital is an ALL OR NOTHING reception. Now
when you have DIGITAL TRUNKING (ASTRO) it gets worse because if a user is
already using the channel (TG) you get the busy/locked tone, and that is not
what a firefighter needs when they are trapped.

If Motorola was SMART they would make a firmware upgrade to program some
radios to automatically change to the next unused TG not in use so that a
transmission can be heard by someone (hopefully dispatch)

Again the real use for Digital aka. P25 APCO25... is bandwidth.

Now as someone said about water in the MICs well an easy fix to that is a
thin plastic film over the element to your voice is still audible and
provides protection to the equipment. 

John

-----Original Message-----
From: scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of David Lloyd
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 10:45 PM
To: Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Scan-DC] Analog/Digital (cellphones/radios)

The recent discussion on analog/digital communications really has me
thinking.   Why DIGITAL?  Maybe I'm naive, but I REALLY haven't ever been
impressed with digital.  I bought a Uniden 396T scanner a year ago - I still
don't know how it works.. and I'm a nerd!! The only benefit I see with
digital is that you can do more with less.

The reason why I bring this up is that I spent an afternoon reading the
Loudoun County firefighter Line of Duty Death report and was I was really
disturbed with all the squawks and beeps and unintelligible audio on the
radio.  In my years in the fire department, I experienced the switch between
analog radios that worked great (okay, decent - there were still coverage
problems), to digital that worked terribly for the aforementioned reasons.
(Everytime I got on an elevator I got "BEEEEEEEEEP" no signal!)   I guess
this why more towers are necessary (ie: DC) and why MoCo is now using
repeaters on vehicles.   It's been a few years since I have been in the
service--I'm wondering if that changed anything.

Just for grins, I took my radio to Skyline Drive two years ago.  The
Montgomery County digital signal - D E A D.    The 154 UHF was perfect.

Sorry if this seems more like a rant than a question, I guess it's just my
fustration with the whole Public Safety initiative in the Washington area to
"improve things".. but it's certainly making things more difficult for all
parties invovled.  Just my observations,  being old-fashioned and hating
the digital transmissions.. what next? Computer voice dispatching?


David





_______________________________________________
Scan-DC mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/scan-dc
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html
Post: mailto:Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net